WHO: Poor immunization coverage caused measles outbreaks in 2023

MANILA, Philippines — Around 10.3 million people worldwide, mostly children, contracted measles last year, up by 20 percent compared with 8.6 million cases in 2022, according to newest estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Inadequate immunization coverage was blamed for outbreaks of the highly contagious and deadly disease in different countries, including the Philippines based on the Nov. 14 issue of “Progress Toward Measles Elimination—Worldwide, 2000-2023,” a joint publication of the WHO and CDC.

READ: Global measles cases rise by 20%, warns WHO

An estimated 83 percent of children worldwide received their first dose of measles vaccine last year, while only 74 percent received the recommended second dose.

A vaccine coverage of at least 95 percent is needed in each country and community to prevent outbreaks and protect populations from measles.

As a result of global-scale gaps in vaccination coverage, 57 countries, including the Philippines, experienced “large or disruptive” measles outbreaks in 2023. This was 60 percent higher than the 36 countries in the previous year.

The new data also showed an estimated 107, 500 people, mostly children younger than five years old, died due to measles in 2023. Although this was an 8-percent decrease from the previous year, WHO and CDC noted “far too many children” were still dying from the preventable disease.

In the Philippines, only 69 percent of the more than 9.6 million children aged five and below have received the complete two doses of the mandated measles, mumps and rubella vaccine—way below the 95 percent target.

Vaccination rates, however, have been improving since the 55-percent slump in 2021 due to pandemic lockdowns and mobility restrictions.

Last year, a total of 2,892 Filipinos, mostly children, contracted measles, with 16 reported deaths.

The Department of Education and Department of Health have relaunched the “Bakuna Eskwela” campaign, which aims to immunize at least 3.8 million public school students against measles-rubella and tetanus-diphtheria, and another 973,930 female Grade 4 pupils in selected public schools against cervical cancer.